WASHINGTON—Henry Clay Glaspell, of Arlington, Texas, pleaded guilty today to a hate crime charge stemming from the ethnically motivated arson of a children’s playground at the Dar El-Eman Islamic Center in Arlington in July 2010, the Justice Department announced today.

Glaspell, 34, pleaded guilty to damaging religious property in violation of federal hate crime laws before U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means in federal court in Fort Worth, Texas. During the plea hearing, Glaspell admitted that he set fire to playground equipment at the mosque as part of a series of ethnically motivated acts directed at individuals of Arab or Middle Eastern descent associated with the mosque. Glaspell further admitted that he stole and damaged mosque property, threw used cat litter at the front door of the mosque, and shouted racial or ethnic slurs at individuals of Arab or Middle Eastern descent at the mosque on multiple occasions. This is the 50th prosecution of post-September 11, 2001 backlash against Arab and Muslim Americans.

“Arab-Americans are part of the American family, and the defendant today admitted that he targeted Arabs at a mosque where people worship peacefully and children play,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “Hate-fueled incidents of this kind will not be tolerated in our country. The Justice Department is committed to vigorously prosecuting hate crimes against all persons.”

“All members of our community must be free to live without fear that they will be targeted because of their ethnicity or religion. This office will vigorously prosecute those who commit such despicable acts of hatred,” said U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas James T. Jacks.

“The crime in this case underscores the importance of enforcing the nation’s civil rights laws, and the FBI is firmly committed to that enforcement. One of our most important responsibilities is protecting the right to worship free from violence, fear, or intimidation,” said Robert E. Casey Jr., Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Dallas Division. “As this case indicates, the FBI, together with and our state and local law enforcement allies, will vigorously investigate and prosecute those who attack that right.”

Glaspell’s sentencing has been set for July 11, 2011. Glaspell faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for using fire to damage religious property in violation of federal hate crimes laws.

This case was jointly investigated by Arlington Police Department and the FBI. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Victor Boutros from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Lewis for the Northern District of Texas, with assistance from the Tarrant County District Attorney's Office.

Subscribe

Warning: The get_mostpopular() template tag has been deprecated since 2.0.3. Please use wpp_get_mostpopular() instead. in /home/content/08/3516008/html/blog/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-popular-posts/wordpress-popular-posts.php on line 3274